Dairy Free

Another cookie recipe?? I promise this is the last one for a while. I’m going baking crazy!

It’s been a short while since I stopped making baby food. My youngest is almost two and eats pretty much everything now, with the exception for egg whites. And poison. I’m a good mom like that.

My nephew/god-son is almost a year old and my sister was looking for a recipe she could make for him, so I whipped up this modification of my Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies, making it baby friendly. The cookies are light and fluffy, just a touch sweet and absent of the top common allergens.

Parents have long been advised to avoid feeding egg whites to babies under one year old, as the proteins are large and difficult to digest. Egg whites are one of the top 8 most allergenic foods. Sometime last year, my pediatrician shared with me that due to this 2010 study conducted by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, parents are now being advised that egg whites are okay as early four months old. It kind of made me never want to return to her office.

My toddler has had eczema since he was born, and one of the triggers is undoubtedly eating egg whites. Whether or not he has an allergy I do not know, we have not gone through the painful skin testing procedure for him. But I definitely would not feel comfortable feeding any baby egg white, regardless of what one study concludes.

Long story short – this recipe uses egg yolk only.

I have also omitted the chocolate chips and coconut palm sugar. The bananas provide just enough sweetness for a baby to enjoy. Please note that this recipe is not recommended for babies until they are one year old. I wrote a little about how babies are not able to digest grains in my post Why We Skipped Baby Cereals. The necessary enzyme, amylase, is not present in the pancreas until the molars come in which is typically around 13 – 16 months. I realize it is impossible to be perfect and often times baby gets a taste or two of treats which are less than ideal for a new tummy to handle. These cookies are a much healthier option for a special treat so keep them on hand at your next get-together or party!

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Remember when I told you here that I get on a baking kick in the fall? Well I wasn’t lying! Maybe it’s the cool fall air, maybe it’s the notion of the holidays approaching, or maybe its the fact my 1st grader is away at school all day and I have a lot more time on my hands. Seriously, how many times do I need want to mop the floor each week? (In a house full of boys, I could be mopping endlessly. Truth.)

My toddler was raised on meat, fruits and veggies until he was passed his 1st birthday. Somewhere along the way, he started eating grains and of course, he loves them. I think it was when he discovered these. And now he loves his coocoos. What’s a coocoo? Well it’s a cookie, of course.

I am the evil mother that doesn’t like giving her kids processed sugar. I am the even more evil mother that doesn’t buy store-bought sweets. Every kid needs cookies though, and so I am always looking for creative and healthy cookie recipes which are low in processed sugar and free from gluten, soy and other ingredients we are allergic to. When the little man was asking for coocoos yesterday, I had no choice but to whip up a healthy batch for him. That’s because when I say asking I mean crying and whining. ‘Terrible twos’ have come a little early. I’ll do almost anything to make incessant whining stop.

I call these “Breakfast Cookies” because they aren’t that sweet. Most of the sweetness comes from the bananas. It’s kind of fun to break all the rules and have a cookie for breakfast, and it’s even better that these cookies won’t give you a sugar crash after eating a few of them.

I am minimizing how often I bake with this All-Purpose Gluten-free mix because it is made with garbanzo beans and is not so easy to digest. TMI? This time, therefore, I opted for a gluten-free oatmeal plus this coconut flour. My six-year-old has some texture issues so I ground the oatmeal into a rough powder using my food processor before adding in the other ingredients. A quick note on thesesoy-free chocolate chips I used – my son is allergic to soy and almost every brand of chocolate chips has soy lecithin. If your kiddo has food allergies, always make sure you are checking the label on everything. Recently he was looking a little sickly and I went through all of our labels, it turns out I was giving him frozen buckwheat waffles with soy oil in them. So frustrating. But since I have been more careful, he looks and feels a lot better!

Back to the cookies. As an experimental recipe, it went really well. The coocoos (cookies) are not too sweet and are an excellent option for a breakfast treat, if you like that kind of thing. I recommend re-heating them before eating, they are much better warm than cold!

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To make a really good cookie, you need to think outside the box. Try something new. Make that cookie different than the rest. Once I made chocolate chip cookies with bacon in them. They were pretty awesome. But not as awesome as these Spiced Chai Chocolate Chip cookies.

Last year around this time I started baking everyday. Something about having a child in school made me feel like he should come home to fresh treats everyday. I proceeded to gain ten pounds, because I ate them all. One of my favorite recipes was this one from Ashlee over at The Little Foxes. Ashlee’s recipe is amazing, but now that my family is officially gluten-free, I had to do some modifications this time around.

These cookies are uniquely tasty thanks to the combination of the spice from the chai tea and the sweet which comes from the sugar and chocolate. You see, a few days ago the temperature in Chicago dropped from 85 to 45 literally overnight and it has rained 4 out of the last 5 days. Fall is here and its giving me a taste for these sweet and spicy cookies. Fall is the time to sit around eating cookies while your kids are in school all day. Right?

Are you still wondering if I meant to say chai tea above? Yes, there is actually chai tea in these cookies. It was Ashlee’s rebel idea. Thank. you. Ashlee. I could never have that much culinary prowess.

I used to be a big fan of the Chai Latte from Starbucks… until the amazing Food Babe came out with this graphic:

Now that I know what kind of garbage are in those drinks, I must get my sweet and spicy chai-fix from other sources. Like these cookies!

The original recipe is soy-free, dairy-free and egg-free, and now I have made it gluten-free. Take that food allergies. Pretty much everyone can enjoy this recipe. Take it to an upcoming holiday party and let the compliments roll in! 🙂

Mix together the coconut oil and sugar in a large bowl. Once combined, add the almond milk and vanilla. Mix completely. If your almond milk is cold, it will cause the oil to solidify a little but that is okay.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, coconut flour, sea salt, baking soda, baking powder, the contents of the tea bags, and the tiny pinch of cayenne. If you don’t like spicy, omit the cayenne. You will still love these cookies.